Despite controlling play and outshooting the Canucks, the Ducks struggled to convert chances, succumbing to a shutout and ending their road trip.
To wrap up an important five-game road trip just ahead of the NHL’s long Olympic break, the Anaheim Ducks traveled to take on the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday evening.
The Ducks saw their seven-game winning streak snapped decisively on Monday, with a 7-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, and were looking to get two points on two days' rest against the 32nd-place team in the NHL.
Vancouver, in a full tailspin, entered Thursday on a three-game losing streak and had only won one game in their previous 15 games. Their injury list is long, with Brock Boeser, Zeev Buium, Derek Forbort, Thatcher Demko, and Marco Rossi all on IR.
The Ducks were hopeful that Troy Terry would re-enter the lineup, as he traveled to Vancouver to practice with the team on Wednesday, but was ruled out for an 11th straight game. The only roster or lineup change Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville made from Monday was to scratch Ryan Strome in favor of Sam Colangelo, who assumed Strome’s lineup spot on the listed second line with Jansen Harkins and Chris Kreider.
Here’s how the lineup looked:
Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke
Kreider-Harkins-Colangelo
Viel-Poehling-Gauthier
Johnston-Washe-Moore
LaCombe-Trouba
Mintyukov-Helleson
Zellweger-Gudas
Lukas Dostal got the start for the Ducks and stopped 24 of 25 shots. He was opposed by Nikita Tolopilo, who stopped all 32 shots he faced despite missing 2:11 TOI due to a medical evaluation. Kevin Lankinen was inserted briefly into the game in Tolopilo’s place and stopped the only shot he faced.
Game Notes
This was as close to a must-win as the Ducks could have had at this point in the season, given their place in the playoff race and their lowly opponent. Both teams had key players out, and the on-ice product was visually sloppy. The Ducks controlled play as much as they should have, but their lack of a consistent and cohesive attack proved costly.
Anaheim forced passing sequences through the neutral zone and high in the offensive zone early in this game, and they forced shots from all angles late in the game. They finished on the positive side of the 5v5 underlying numbers, producing 57.75% of the shots on goal share (26-19), 53.19% of the shot attempts share (50-44), and 62.96% of the expected goals share (2.67-1.57).
Lineup: This may have been the game where the injuries, combined with some head-scratching choices made with the four forward lines and roster construction, may have caught up to the Ducks. Ryan Strome hasn’t had a productive year and has failed to carve out a role for himself when the roster’s been healthy, but he’s generated offense and hasn’t been a defensive liability when he has been on the ice this season.
Throughout this game, the Ducks had trouble connecting on passing sequences at the offensive blueline and below the circles in the offensive zone, two areas where Strome thrives. He’s played center the majority of his career, and a clear spot for him in this lineup would have been on the second line between Kreider and Colangelo.
Ian Moore has been Quenneville’s “Swiss Army knife” this season and has done well in his role as a fourth-line forechecker. However, the fourth line struggled mightily to generate any semblance of dangerous offense, and couldn’t keep the event count minimized on the other end. This stretch, with the amount of injuries to the roster, seemed like as good a time as any to call up some of the younger forwards from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL (Nathan Gaucher, Nikita Nesterenko, Sasha Pastujov, Nico Myatovic, Jan Mysak, Yegor Sidorov), and give them a look at the NHL level.
Forecheck: Early in this game, the Canucks forwards were making it easy for Anaheim’s defensemen to pinch and keep possession in the offensive zone. As the game wore on, the Ducks weren’t as aggressive in that area of the ice, and in those instances, truly “simplifying” their approach would have benefited them and generated more needed looks late in the game.
Power Play: As has been the case recently, keeping Kreider higher in the offensive zone in the bumper with a man-advantage opened up lanes to Sennecke at the goal line from the Granlund at the flank. From there, Sennecke attempted several seam passes either to Kreider, crashing from the bumper, or to Gauthier at the weak flank. The success rate wasn’t high on those passes, but the blueprint could prove effective with more reps, as the five-man unit did well to recover loose pucks and keep extended zone time alive.
The Ducks will return to Anaheim on Sunday to host the Vegas Golden Knights in another critical Pacific Division matchup, with just two games remaining on the schedule before the Olympic break.